Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name [is] to be praised.
4 The LORD [is] high above all nations, [and] his glory above the heavens.
5 Who [is] like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
6 Who humbleth [himself] to behold [the things that are] in heaven, and in the earth!
7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
8 That he may set [him] with princes, [even] with the princes of his people.
9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, [and to be] a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.
I. The Everlasting Lord (v. 1-3)
A. Praise must come from the servants of the Lord.
B. This Psalm calls us to establish praise toward the Lord that will never stop.
1. "Bless" is the same Hebrew word that is often translated as salute, praise, or to speak well of.
2. The name of the Lord ought to cause us to reflect upon His holiness and who He is.
(a) Ephesians 1:3
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
(b) 2 Corinthians 1:1-3
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
(c) 2 Corinthians 11:31
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
(d) 1 Timothy 6:15
15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
The holiness of God is not to be conceived of as one attribute among others: it is rather a general term representing the conception of his consummate perfection and total glory. It is his infinite moral perfection crowning his infinite itelligence and power. There is a glory of each attribute viewed abstractedly, and a glory of the whole together. The intellectual nature is the essential basis of the moral. Infinite moral perfection is the crown of the Godhead. Holiness is the total glory thus crowned.
Hodge
C. The Lord is to be praised all the time.
1. Verse 2 establishes praise today and from this time forth
2. Verse 3 establishes praise as an everyday event.
3. Is your day filled with praise?
II. The Elevated Lord (v. 4-5)
A. The Lord is more powerful than any king or kingdom here on this earth.
1. We are called to worship the Lord in His holiness.
(a) Psalm 97:9
9 For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.
B. The Lord’s Glory is incomparable.
1. The glory of the Lord is so great that even His name is great!
(a) Psalm 8:1
1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
III. The Empathetic Lord (v. 6-9)
A. Sympathy vs. Empathy
1. Sympathy is when we have emotions of compassion toward someone in their time of trouble or testing.
2. Empathy is when we have deep emotions of compassion that results from the understanding of having gone through the same trouble or testing ourselves.
When I am told of someone who has found out that they have cancer, I can sympathize with them. I sympathize because I have seen the problems that cancer as well as the treatments causes for them. However, I can not empathize with them. I can only empathize with someone who has cancer when I myself have been through the pain of cancer.
B. The humility of the Lord allows Him to be empathetic with us.
1. Jesus is the epitomy of God’s humility
(a) Philippians 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
2. Because Jesus became a man, He knows what we go through and the emotions that accompany the situations.
(b) Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
C. His humility allows Him to take people from the trash heaps of life and raise them up to make them victors.
D. His humility allows Him to take barren women and make them into mothers.
1. The greatest change in our lives is that He saved us out of the trash heap of sin.
(a) Psalm 14:1-3
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
(b) Isaiah 64:6
6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
(c) Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
The there was once a girl who was a lazy and would not spin. Her mother could not persuade her to do it, no matter how hard she tried. Finally the mother became so angry that she gave her daughter a godd beating. While the mother was beating the girl, the queen happened to pass by and heard the girl crying. The queen stopped, entered the house, and asked the mother why she was beating her child.
The woman was ashamed to tell of her daughter’s laziness, so she said, “I am trying to stop her from spinning. That’s all she wants to do. Day and night, she keeps on spinning, but I am poor and cannot supply her with enough flax.”
The queen answered, “I like nothing better that the sound of the spinning wheel, and I always feel happy when I hear its humming. Let me take your daughter with me to the castle. I have plenty of flax, and she shall spin there to her heart’s content.”
The mother was only too glad to get rid of her daughter, so she agreed to let the queen take the girl with her. When they reached the castle, the queen showed her three rooms completely filled with the finest flax in the land.
“Now you can spin all of this flax,” said the queen “and if you are able to spin it all to my satisfaction, I will make you the wife of my eldest son. You will become the princess. But if you fail, you will be banished from the realm forever.”
Even though the girl was momentarily excited about the possibility of becoming the princess, she was inwardly terrified because she knew she couldn’t spin the flax even if she were to live a hundred years and were to sit spinning every day of her life from morning to evening. She didn’t even know how. For three days she sat and cried without spinning a single thread. On the third day the queen came, and when she saw that nothing had been done, she was surprised and asked for an explanation. The girl excused herself by saying that she had not been able to begin because of the distress she felt from leaving home and her loving mother. The excuse satisfied the queen temporarily, but as she left she said, “Tomorrow you must begin to work.”
When the girl was alone again, she couldn’t figure out what to do at all. In her frustration, she gazed out the window and saw three women who were passing by. One had a broad flat foot that cuased her to walk with a limp, the second had a fat lower lip that hung down under her chin, and the third had a huge thumb that looked ugly and sore. When they saw the girl, they stopped at the window and asked what the girl was doing. The girl told them her plight, and the three women said, “We are spinners, and we will help you on one condition. When you marry the prince, invite us to your wedding, and do not be ashamed of us. Call us your cousins, and let us sit at your table. If you will promise this, we will finish off your flax-spinning in a very short time.”
“Oh yes, I promise with all my heart,” the girl answered. “Only come in now and begin at once.”
The women came in and began spinning the yarn immediately. The first one drew out the thread and pumped the treadle that turned the wheel; the second moistened the thread with her mouth, and the third twisted it with her thumb. Soon heap of beautiful yarn began falling to the ground. Whenever the queen came by, the girl would hide the three spinsters and keep them out of sight. The queen was amazed at the heaps of well-spun yarn, and there was no end to the praise that the girl received. When the first room was empty, they went on to the second, and then to the third, so that at last all the flax was spun.
Then the three women left, saying to the girl, “Do not forget your promise, and nothing bad will happen to you.”
When the girl showed the delighted queen the three empty rooms and the heaps of beautiful yarn, the wedding was arranged at once. The prince was quite pleased that he was to have such a diligent and hardworking wife.
“I have three cousins,” said the girl, “and they have been very knid to me over the years. May I invite them to the wedding, and ask them to sit at the head table with us?”
The queen and the prince both said, “Yes, that would be permitted.”
When the wedding feast began, in came the three spinsters and sat down at the head table. The prince was surprised at their appearance. “Oh,” he said, “I didn’t realize that you had such dreadfully ugly relatives.”
He went up to the first spinster and looking down at ther broad, flat foot, asked, “How did your foot become so large?”
“From pumping the treadle on the spinning wheel,” she said. “From pumping.”
He then went up to the second spinster and said, “How is it that you have such a great hanging lip?”
“From licking the thread,” she answered. “From licking.”
Then he asked the third, “How is it that you have such a huge thumb?”
“From twisting the thread,” she replied. “From twisting.”
The prince considered all this for a moment and then announced, “From this day forward, my beautiful bride will never again touch a spinning wheel!”
And together they lived happily ever after.
